Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Paramount has held talks with Comcast about Paramount+ and Peacock joining forces through a partnership or a joint venture — The two companies have recently discussed a streaming partnership or joint-venture for Paramount+ and Peacock — Paramount has held recent talks with Comcast …
Discussion:
Dylan Jones on LinkedIn, @danackerman, @danspeerin, Variety, @stuffsomerssays, @richlightshed, @great_katzby, @carnage4life@mas.to, World Soccer Talk, The A.V. Club, Jessica Toonkel on LinkedIn, TrekMovie.com, The Desk, Next TV, Quartz, TechHive, Reuters, Mike Richter on LinkedIn, The Wrap, UPROXX, The Streamable, ComingSoon.net, Media Play News, The Verge, 9to5Google, @2xaught7.bsky.social and @ernie@writing.exchange
Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:
Current and ex-staff and experts say Sinclair stokes its audience's fears, with views that align with Trump, and David Smith wants the same at The Baltimore Sun — The local news powerhouse, whose chairman recently bought the Baltimore Sun, focuses on fear in broadcasts that often align with Donald Trump's view of cities
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
A look at the expansion plans of LeBron James' SpringHill, which makes most of its $200M in revenue from creating sponsored short videos for advertisers — The basketball legend is building a business that includes movies and TV, advertising and a grooming line.
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
Legal news service Law360 lays off 10% of its newsroom, per impacted journalists; the outlet's parent company LexisNexis saw record profits in 2023 — Unionized editorial staffers staged a one-day strike against parent company LexisNexis in December — Law360, the subscription-based legal …
Amy Or / Bloomberg:
Sources: Reddit signed a deal early in 2024, worth ~$60M on an annualized basis, allowing a large unnamed AI company to train its models on Reddit's content — - Social media firm agrees $60 million deal with AI company — Reddit advised to seek at least $5 billion IPO valuation
Discussion:
The Verge, @robdziobon, @billym2k, @natarajsindam, @pkedrosky@threads.net, @chrisamccoy, @bradcordeiro, @lukebk, @carnage4life@mas.to, Mashable, @smtuffy, Engadget, @jennifercobbe, @ryanmcraver, @rayredacted, @quinnypig, @ianbetteridge@writing …, @josourcing, @waywardboobs.bsky.social and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
How Paramount became a cautionary tale of the streaming wars, as the Viacom merger, a lack of investment, and other issues left it with $16B+ in debt — Shari Redstone inherited her father's storied media empire and tried to take on Netflix. Now it's looking for a buyer.
Discussion:
Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn and Business Insider
David Pierce / The Verge:
A look at robots.txt, a goodwill-based social contract that has governed the behavior of web crawlers, as more publishers block AI crawlers from their sites — For decades, robots.txt governed the behavior of web crawlers. But as unscrupulous AI companies seek out more and more data …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
NBCUniversal rebrands video streaming service Vudu to Fandango at Home, more closely aligning it with its Fandango movie ticketing business — Fandango has decided to completely rebrand Vudu, a streaming video service that's been around for over a decade, to Fandango at Home.
Discussion:
Variety, 9to5Google, @vudufans, The A.V. Club, Cord Cutters News and Media Play News
Emily Glover / Forbes:
Survey of 2K US streaming users: 33% created their own accounts due to password crackdowns, 45% canceled services due to cost, 49% subscribe to three services — In an age where the digital world is our primary source of entertainment, the streaming service market is more competitive and complex than ever.
Discussion:
Martin Toha on LinkedIn, The Streamable and Media Play News
The Wire:
Vanessa Dougnac, South Asia correspondent for four French publications, says India's government is forcing her to leave because of her “malicious” reporting — New Delhi: French journalist Vanessa Dougnac, who had been the longest serving foreign correspondent in India …
Discussion:
Agence France-Presse, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Committee to Protect …, Reuters and Newslaundry
Nicola Agius / Search Engine Land:
Google says IAB Tech Lab's report claiming Privacy Sandbox could disadvantage smaller brands and media companies contains “misunderstandings and inaccuracies” — The IAB Tech Lab report claims that Privacy Sandbox could make it harder for brands to serve effective ads - particularly smaller businesses.
The Wrap:
Nexstar is developing a weekly political talk show in collaboration between the CW and The Hill; it will air on Sundays on local CW stations — The series would be similar in concept to “Face the Nation,” CW president of entertainment Brad Schwartz tells TheWrap
Discussion:
Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter
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